Sergio Busquets Joins Barça Athletic as Coach
Sergio Busquets is back at Barcelona. Not on the pitch this time, but on the touchline, taking his first steps into coaching with the club’s reserve side.
The 38-year-old has joined Juliano Belletti’s staff at Barça Athletic, who now find themselves in Spain’s fourth tier, the Segunda Federación. As he works through his coaching badges, Busquets will help oversee a group of youngsters trying to climb back up a ladder he once sprinted up himself.
From the fourth tier to the first team
Barça Athletic were playing in the second division as recently as 2018. Since then, the slide has been brutal: down two levels, out of the professional tiers, and into a division where the stadiums are smaller, the pitches rougher and the spotlight dimmer.
Belletti and Busquets have been handed a double brief. Win promotion back to the third tier. And, just as crucially, shape the next wave of talent for the Camp Nou. Results matter, but so does producing the next midfielder who can step into a LaLiga game without blinking.
Busquets knows that path better than anyone. He joined Barcelona as a teenager in 2005 and quietly learned his trade with the reserves, making 25 appearances before Pep Guardiola pulled him into the senior squad. From there, his rise was relentless.
A giant returns in a different role
By the time he left Barça, Busquets had played 722 games for the club. Only Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernández have worn the shirt more often. His honours list reads like a history of Barcelona’s golden era: nine LaLiga titles, three Champions Leagues, and a cabinet full of domestic and international trophies.
He was just as central for Spain. Capped 143 times, he anchored the midfield for La Roja during their most dominant spell, lifting the World Cup in 2010 and the European Championship in 2012.
When he finally walked away from Camp Nou, he did not head into retirement. Instead, he crossed the Atlantic in 2023 to join Inter Miami, reuniting with Messi, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez. Miami became a late-career playground, but also another platform for his influence. Across 116 appearances, he helped deliver the Leagues Cup in 2023 and the MLS Cup in 2025, signing off his playing days as a champion once again.
Building the next Busquets
Now comes the hard part: translating that on-pitch genius into coaching authority. At Barça Athletic, he will work with players dreaming of following his route from the fourth tier to the first team. Every training drill, every positional tweak, every tactical correction will carry the weight of his experience at the highest level.
Barcelona’s reserve bench suddenly has a familiar figure sitting on it. The shirt is gone, the boots are off, but the same calm brain that dictated games for over a decade is now focused on something else.
Not protecting a back four. Building a future.
